Pharmacy-based interventions for initiating effective contraception following the use of emergency contraception: a pilot study

Quick starting hormonal contraception after using oral emergency contraception: a systematic review

“…A partial crossover design was employed with each participant receiving two different treatment combinations with one menstrual cycle in between. In the third study, LNG was administered to all women who presented to a pharmacy after UPSI 12. Women then received either 35 days of low-dose POP (Norgeston ® containing 35  µg LNG), a rapid access appointment at a family planning clinic to discuss and initiate contraception, or standard care (i.e.…”

“…One trial used restricted randomisation to randomise pharmacies and had no allocation concealment, making this RCT high risk for confounding bias 12. Investigators, participants and sponsors were blinded in one study, making it low risk for allocation bias 11.…”

“…For HC and EC effectiveness, the biomedical studies used surrogate measures of Hoogland scores, cervical mucus scores and ovulation rates 10 11. Short-term HC use was measured in the one cluster randomised trial as self-reported contraceptive use within 6–8  weeks of LNG use 12. Outcome measures for side effects and unscheduled bleeding directly matched the PICO question 11…”

“…Yet the pharmacy is usually unable to provide ongoing contraception. Provision of a bridging method of contraception such as the POP with EC has been shown to be feasible 12. Michie  et al.…”

Emergency Contraception Review

“…A recent pilot study in Scotland found that a simple intervention in which pharmacists provided women presenting for EC with a cycle of progestin-only pills significantly increased the probability of the women using effective contraception six to eight weeks following EC use. 38 …”